Irish Bride

Hi Everyone,

This week I’m at the half way mark of my 6-week Online Post-Pregnancy Plan. Myself, Frankie and Jodie have all been sick with colds, coughs and ear infections so it’s been a fairly challenging week. I haven’t been able to exercise much because I’ve been so sick which was disappointing because I was really getting into my stride in week 2 and feeling the benefits of it. As I said in the Week 1 post I find that exercise is great for my mood and mindset and helps to keep me positive even on days when I’ve had very little sleep. So I’m definitely feeling the affects of not getting to do my workouts much and am really looking forward to getting back to it asap.

I haven’t measured myself as I don’t want to be disappointed if this past week has stalled my progress but I’m feeling stronger and my jeans are fitting better too. I also haven’t done a picture comparison this week as there isn’t enough of a difference yet to really notice but I am looking forward to comparing in the final week.

When you’re sick and only snuggles from your baby sister will do

I did stick to the meal plan as much as possible even though I wasn’t sharing much on Snapchat – there isn’t time to make food look pretty when you’re living in a blur of snot and Neurofen! I found having all of the food I needed for the week in the house, as well as two evening meals frozen and ready, really helpful in the middle of all the madness though and it can only help to be eating healthily when you’re sick and don’t have much time to pay attention to yourself. Almost all of the food on the plan is easy to prepare but even at that I struggled some days as everyone needed me so much and we all have days or weeks like that. So I took the easy option sometimes which meant having Cully and Sully soup from a tub a couple of days rather than my own homemade soup as well as snacks like the Good 4 U Super Bites when I couldn’t manage to nut butter a few rice cakes (yes that’s how insane it can be some days with a sick 2 year old and a newborn!).

One of my favourite quick snack foods

Winter wedding season is in full swing and we had a friend’s wedding over the weekend in The Mill House in Slane (fab venue btw). I often get asked by people signing up to do my plans what they should do if they have a wedding on during the 6 weeks. My answer is always the same. Go and enjoy! Life is too short to be sitting at a wedding dinner not able to eat this and that or enjoy a drink or dessert. Normally (when not so bet down with sickness) I would do a really tough workout the day before and after and be extra good with my meals so that I feel I’ve really “made room” for a more indulgent meal like you’d get at a wedding. While I’m on the subject of weddings I might as well add in that I will be running a separate general population online plan in January which is very popular with brides-to-be and their bridal parties so if you’d like to know more about that you can leave your email address here and I’ll get back to you with more details very soon.

Wedding ready but unfortunately my sickness caught up on me later in the day

I’m getting such lovely feedback from everyone, particularly when it comes to what I’m talking about on Snapchat. I snapped a lot in the past week about the pressure women feel to get back into shape after having a baby as it was something that I hadn’t realised affected so many and wanted to offer a little bit of advice. That advice included not to pay any attention to family members (who say the CRUELEST things it seems), not to let yourself get distracted from your own progress by comparing yourself to others and also not to feel mammy-guilt if you want or need to take time out to look after yourself and your health and fitness. I got such a great response from my Snapchat followers that I’m strongly thinking of having a Motivational Meet-up in Laois in the New Year. I’ll be posting more about this at a later stage but would absolutely love to help other Mammies and women in general to reach their health and fitness goals in 2017.

Snapchat @mrskbomb

Thanks for reading,

Bríd x

When Marian Lewis walked up the aisle earlier this year she was one happy woman. The most obvious reason was that Pádraig, the man she loved and wanted to spend the rest of her life with, was waiting at the top. But there was also another reason she felt like bursting with happiness and that was that she looked and felt a million dollars. A few months earlier when Marian joined up to my online course I convinced her that it was worth all of her efforts to achieve that feeling and be the absolute stunner of a bride that she wanted to be. She did so well that the poor lady doing her alterations had to tell her off as she explained she couldn’t make the dress any smaller! You can read about her online story here.

As an only child she spent the morning getting pampered at home in Roscrea with her parents, two bridesmaids and flowergirl before heading off to meet her man. Marian and Pádraig’s wedding took place on a beautiful day in St. Cronan’s church in Roscrea in May and they partied the night away afterwards in The Sheraton Hotel in Athlone. Check out her fabulous day below captured so well by Denis Vahey Photography in Cashel as well as details of all of her wedding vendors. If you’d like more information about my online fitness courses head over here and leave your details.

From the day I got engaged to the day I walked down the aisle I was obsessed with all things bridal and wedding (I probably still am actually but I think that’s obvious). I loved finding any excuse to have a day out with my bridal party in the build up to the big day. Days like dress shopping, bridal shows, venue hunting, an impromptu trip down to Bride of Franc’s café and shop in Cork and even a ‘for the hell of it’ overnight trip to London. None of our trips were of the fit and healthy nature however and that got me thinking about organising a bridal experience with a difference for brides-to-be. When I ran my idea past some soon-to-be brides that I know (and as a 29 year old woman that is MANY) they loved it and so The Fit Bride’s Breakfast was born.

After a lot of planning and preparation to get my lovely venue up to bridal standard the day began to take shape. A clear out of my own bridal bits and pieces, a couple (ok four!) trips to IKEA and a stop off at Moss Cottage in Dundrum and I had what I needed to transform. I was amazed at the response to it. Originally I had planned on keeping the numbers very small but relented because I’m not very good at saying no. And so we had a lovely sized group together for our first event. The morning kicked off with tea and coffee and a light, healthy breakfast which included fruit from Keelings, yoghurt from Glenisk and the tastiest yoghurt toppers from Wyldsson (who personalised their tubes for me!)

Now I’m fairly well used to standing in front of big crowds when I’m teaching my classes but this time there were no burpees or loud music to hide behind. My lovely group were seated and all eyes were on me so you could say I was a little nervous. We discussed the common myths and misconceptions when it comes to healthy eating and fitness, including how often you should exercise and what are the best things to do as well as what are the best food choices. We looked at the different wedding dress shapes and styles that brides chose and the body parts that they are often conscious of when wearing these dresses. I was just starting to relax when my time was up and I handed over to the next speaker.

Aileen Coffey from Remarkable Beauty was next up to talk to the ladies. Aileen is a mobile beauty therapist and offers a wide range of services including skincare, nails, tan and much more. Her speciality is her pamper party which is popular with hen parties, bridal parties and all the other girly events you can think of. She talked to the group about the stages of beauty prep that a bride should consider leading up to her big day. She also showed the group her fabulous mobile tanning booth as well as some of her lovely products. Sometimes a bride can think she knows what she needs to be doing to prepare herself for the big day but an expert like Aileen will always have a few extra handy tips.

Next was Mary Kearns from Mary’s Hair Studio in Rathdowney. Mary is well known for her amazing wedding styles and as a bride-to-be herself (who is admittedly hair obsessed) she knows how important it is to feel confident with both the style you choose and how well it will hold up for the day. This bride can testify that her styles will hold up for the whole weekend if you want them to! Mary works from her really pretty studio but will also travel to a bride’s house or hotel if they wish. She also spoke about caring for your hair in the lead up to the big day as well as how to manage your veil or headpiece later in the night when she’s not around to help.

Our final speaker was makeup artist Ruth Bergin. A graduate of LA College of Creative Arts and currently working for Inglot, Ruth showed the group two very different bridal looks, a more natural and the other a bit stronger. One of the biggest concerns for brides-to-be is how to maintain, throughout the day, the flawless look created by a makeup artist in the morning so Ruth gave some advice on products that you should bring with you to your reception.

As you can see from the pictures our morning was captured elegantly as always by photographer Eddie Kavanagh. I had meant to make a list of the little details that I wanted captured but he didn’t miss a thing.

We were also very lucky to have a selection of veils and headpieces to show off Mary’s hairstyles with and they came from Smart Brides Designer Outlet in Portlaoise. They were also kind enough to send a stunning Jenny Packham dress to show off to the brides too as well as some of the gorgeous jewellery that they sell. I wanted to take everything they sent, particularly the dress, and run for my life!

Prize winners

We rounded off the morning with some spot prizes which included a goodie bag of Wyldsson topper tubes from myself, a blow-dry from Mary, a full-body tan from Aileen and a voucher for an engagement shoot with Eddie. It was so nice to get such positive feedback from everyone who came and I loved chatting to everyone afterwards. I’m looking forward to having some of the ladies join me on the 12 week online course starting in September and there will definitely be another breakfast in the future.

P.S I was getting asked a lot of questions on Snapchat about where I got some of the bits and bobs I used to decorate the venue so here you go:

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